In the United States, 2014 was marked by judicial harassment of New York Times investigative reporter James Risen in connection with the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer charged under the Espionage Act with giving him classified information. US journalists are still not protected by a federal shield law that would guarantee their right not to name their sources or reveal other confidential information about their work. Meanwhile, at least 15 journalists were arbitrarily arrested during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against black teenager Michael Brown’s fatal shooting by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.
While not an official holiday, Darwin Day has been adopted by scientific and humanist groups to promote everything from scientific literacy to secularism. This year, more than 100 events have been planned worldwide, many of them anchored by scientific talks or symposia. Others, such as a production of “Charles Darwin, Vampire Slayer” in California, are a little less serious.
KS Governor Brownback Issues Executive Order to Re-Instate Discrimination of LGBT Residents, by tmservo433 Scott Walker Lies About Wisconsin Teacher of the Year: Real Teacher of the Year Responds, by Steven D
Scott Walker Lies About Wisconsin Teacher of the Year: Real Teacher of the Year Responds, by Steven D
Bob gets very emotional about this, and his face gets noticeably red as he describes the way in which police departments and district attorney offices tend to shrug off psychic crime and dismiss it as a “civil problem.” Although he gets paid for his work, usually around $5,000 a case and sometimes a 20% cut of recovered funds, Bob seems to treat what he does as a sort of mission. Some people want to save the whales; he wants to get the American justice system to take fraudulent psychics seriously. According to his calculations, he has recovered over $3m for 21 victims across 12 cases.
Humans aren't the only species to be influenced by spin. Our closest primate relatives are susceptible, too. For example, people are known to rate a burger as more tasty when it is described as "75 percent lean" than when it is described as "25 percent fat," even though that's the same thing. And they're more willing to recommend a medical procedure when they are told it has a 50 percent success rate than when they are told it has a 50 percent chance of failure—again, exactly the same thing. A Duke University study has found that positive and negative framing make a big difference for chimpanzees and bonobos too.
For example, people are known to rate a burger as more tasty when it is described as "75 percent lean" than when it is described as "25 percent fat," even though that's the same thing. And they're more willing to recommend a medical procedure when they are told it has a 50 percent success rate than when they are told it has a 50 percent chance of failure—again, exactly the same thing.
A Duke University study has found that positive and negative framing make a big difference for chimpanzees and bonobos too.